Waterbul

An old South African recipe - the name literally means "water bull" but I have no idea why. It's a warm ginger pudding, perfect for winter.

Ingredients:

1.25 litres water

2 c sugar

2 c flour

10 ml cinnamon

5 ml ginger

2 ml salt

200 ml milk

10 ml baking soda

25 ml apricot jam

30 ml butter

Heat the water and sugar until it boils in a deep pot with a lid that fits well - I use my 4 litre Jamie Oliver pot and it works for up to 1.5 times the recipe. Sift the flour, spices and salt, and separately mix the milk and baking soda. Rub the flour and jam into the dry mixture, and then add milk to create a batter. It will be a thick ball. Add this to the boiling syrup, add the lid and boil for 5 minutes on high heat. Watch it carefully to prevent boiling over! Reduce the heat and boil another 25 minutes slowly, without lifting the lid.

The syrup will turn into a sauce which you can serve with the pudding; add custard or ice-cream.